Andy Butler’s pride in quick turnaround from Doncaster Rovers players

Rovers deservedly beat Portsmouth 2-1 on Tuesday night, the day after the abrupt departure of Darren Moore which saw Butler take the reins at the Keepmoat until the end of the season.

And after his players delivered an aggressive, attacking performance to earn the victory from an entertaining game, Butler spoke of his pride at the manner in which his players delivered on what he planned at such short notice.

“I asked them to be front foot,” the 37-year-old said.

“I said to the players can we get in their faces because the less time they have on the ball the less accurate they can be with their direct passes, which they do into Harrison and Curtis.

“I thought the players dealt with it ever so well.

“They had a lot of questions asked of them but at the same time we asked questions of them as well.

“We had a couple of breakaways and I said to the players in the final third, enjoy yourselves, excite me, excite the fans.

“Looking back, there are a few things we can still tidy up and get better at but overall I’m really pleased with the first game.”

Defensive lapses had blighted Rovers on a run of five matches without victory prior to Tuesday night’s win.

Butler was keen to avoid making too much of an issue of lapses in concentration and had every faith in his defence, who performed well against Portsmouth.

He said: “You concede a few goals and a big thing gets made of it but I had full belief in the players in the box to do a job and they have done their job correctly.

“I’m a little bit disappointed with the goal we conceded but from set pieces we were solid and we got on the end of a few set pieces which is thanks to Gez [Paul Gerrard] who takes care of them.

“Hopefully we’ve turned a corner with set pieces and hopefully we score from a few.”

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